A Comparison of White Balance Modes

On this page, we shall take a look at the effects of different white balance
modes. For each available color temperature (i.e., sunny, cloudy,
flash, fluorescent, and incandescent), we take images of the same scene
using all available white balance modes. By comparing these images, we hope
to gain some understanding of using an appropriate white balance mode, or to
know how to obtain creative effects with white balance modes.

Sunlight

Under strong sunlight, the best choices are
Auto,
Fine, or
White Bal Preset.
The following images were taken in a sunny day using different white balance
settings. The one taken with
Auto is similar to the
one with Fine.
But, the former seems brighter than the latter. However, both lack a touch
of the late afternoon mood (around 5pm). In terms of tonality, the one taken
with Auto is
not as saturated as the one with
Fine, and the one with
White Bal Preset is better.
Color temperatures for incandescent and fluorescent are much lower than
that of sunlight. As a result, both images are bluish. Since cloudy
daylight and flash have lower color temperatures than sunlight and
higher than incandescent and fluorescent lights, the images taken with
Cloudy and
Speedlight are warmer
than those of
Incandescent and
Fluorescent.

Auto

White Bal Preset

Fine

Cloudy

Speedlight

Fluorescent

Incandescent

Cloudy

In a heavy overcast or rainy day, the best choices are
Auto,
Cloudy, or
White Bal Preset.
The following images were taken in a rainy day using different white balance
settings. The images taken with
Auto,
Sunny and
Cloudy are similar; but,
the one using Cloudy
definitely has better rendition of green leaves. The one taken with
Fluorescent is
similar, but has a slightly stronger touch of blue. There is no doubt
that the one with
Incandescent will
show a very strong touch of blue. It is interesting to point out that the
one taken with
White Bal Preset added
too much green touch to the image, making it not very realistic and
similar to the one using
Speedlight.

Auto

White Bal Preset

Fine

Cloudy

Speedlight

Fluorescent

Incandescent

Flash

Flashes are designed to have a color temperature similar to that of the
sunlight. But, of course, flashes are "warmer" than sunlights!
The following images were taken in a room illuminated only by fluorescent
lights and the internal flash was always on (i.e., fired for every
shot). As a result, there is no surprise that the ones taken with
Fine,
Fluorescent and
Cloudy are very similar.
On the other hand, the images taken with
Auto and
Speedlight are
also similar and look warmer. The one taken using
Incandescent is bluish
which is normal because incandescent lights have lower color temperature.
The one taken using
White Bal Preset
looks very similar to that of
Incandescent. This is
because the flash does not fire when performing a white balance preset,
and, as a result, the camera only detects fluorescent lights.
Consequently, when the flash fires, excessive blue color will be recorded!

Auto

White Bal Preset

Fine

Cloudy

Speedlight

Fluorescent

Incandescent

Fluorescent Light

Fluorescent lights have lower color temperature than those of flash lights.
The best choices are
Auto,
Fluorescent, or
White Bal Preset.
The following images were taken in a room with only fluorescent lights.
The images taken with
Auto,
Cloudy and
Fluorescent are very
similar to each other. The images taken with
Fine and
Speedlight
are similar and are a little darker than the previous ones. All five images
show a touch of green. On the other hand, the one taken using
White Bal Preset is
very accurate.

Auto

White Bal Preset

Fine

Cloudy

Speedlight

Fluorescent

Incandescent

Incandescent Light

For incandescent light, the best choices are
Auto,
Incandescent,
White Bal Preset.
The following images were taken with a single 75 watt light bulb.
Note that the background is simply a white paper. The one taken with
Auto is similar to the
one with
White Bal Preset.
Both are slightly underexposed, which can be corrected with
Exposure Compensation (990)
or
Exposure Compensation (995)
Because incandescent lights have color temperatures lower than that of the
of sunlight, flashes and fluorescent lights, the images taken with
Fine,
Incandescent,
Cloudy and
Speedlight are similar
to each other. However, the image taken with
Incandescent does
not show the white background correctly.